CFP® Whitney
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It depends on how old you are, what your overall financial picture looks like (ie, do you have debt that you could pay down instead of some of the retirement contributions?), how much your employer matches, and what the options are in your plan.
If you only have US fixed income, I would probably not go into bonds. However, if you have an option for international/global/non-US bonds, and/or high yield bonds, a modest (~5%) allocation is a nice hedge and generally does not move in line with your stock investments.
Also, definitely always contribute at least as much as your company will match or you're walking away from free money with 100% return!
Finally, if your investment options are not great in the plan, you might consider contributing up to the match and then investing the remainder in a Roth or deductible IRA, again depending on your financial situation.
I'd be happy to help follow up if you want, this is what I do for a living. |
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Dude
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I'm a believer in ALL STOCKS, all your life, up until about 5 years until retirement.
Stocks outperform all other asset classes!
So, if you have 5 years or more until retirement......you need to be almost all stocks.
70% US, 30% International (mostly large cap funds, with some mid cap and small cap, maybe some gold & real estate funds for a small percentage)
**** Bonds. |
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jeff410
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The rule of thumb is to subtract your age from between 100 and 120, depending on your risk tolerance, your other assets and income available at retirement and how much you will need, and the fact that people are living longer and working longer. The result is how much you should put in equities. The remainder should be in bonds and fixed income investments. This should be adjusted every 2-5 years, or when your personal circumstances change. |
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bgrace12
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Other poster is right. You need to give your stat's like age, income, expenses, risk tolerance etc.
Even then you should be asking your question on investments sites like morningstar.com or moneyrec.com
both are serious sites for investors. Morningstar has a free board and pay for other info. Moneyrec.com lets you post your portfolio anonymously and ask other users and pros what you should do. It is free.
Good luck and don't do anything until you research it thoroughly.
Grace |
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Rick B
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No idea. We don't know how old you are, how tolerant to risk, etc.
Generally speaking, you should be very heavy in a diversified portfolio of domestic mid, large, and small cap stocks. You should also have a chunk in international.
Unless you are close to retirement, you should have very little in money market or bonds. |
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Ted
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Stay with a diversified group of stocks. The problem for retirees these days is not that their savings will tanks, but that they will outlive their savings. People retiring now can expect to live 20-30 years. Locking yourself into fixed income and exposing yourself to inflation doesn't make sense. |
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Paul
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At this time, the last thing you want to do is lower your investment (sell some of your stocks), because the stocks have already lost money! Buy low, sell high. Plus there might be tax consequences.
You may want to put more of your FUTURE investment into bonds. BTW, historically, "all stocks" beats "all bonds", "all gold", "all real estate", etc, but a mixture with MOSTLY stocks will come out ahead. |
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MM
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Since we are in the beginning of a bear market/recession, you need to remove your money from the typical IRA/401K and put it in a "bear fund" which is a mutual fund that makes money in a bear market. Otherwise you may see substantial losses in your retirement plan over the next few years.
Age, income, etc doesn't matter. You want to invest appropriately for the type of market we're in.
"holding your stocks for the long term" like other people suggest, is "lazy investing" and is not a good strategy. |
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